Listen to the Falling Rain…

The Western Cape winter can give you the winter blues. But it can also be a wonderful time to sit by the fire and sip a glorious pinotage from one of the local vineyards, relax and love the sound of pouring rain. Think of the dams filling to the brim .. the terrible drought of 2017 a distant memory … for the moment. It’s also a good time to listen to Jose Feliciano singing “Listen to the Falling Rain, listen to it fall…”. Rain, a beautiful sound but not if the sound of pouring rain is coming from inside your leaking garage!

The rain will soon disappear being replaced by the long, hot, sunny days of summer. Winter is short in our beautiful country and winter blues pass in a matter of weeks. “Vas byt” … the Afrikaans for “hang in there”. The winter blues really will be over very soon. But what about the leaking garage?

Take a look at the video below. That is not just a drip in our leaking garage. That is a solid stream of rain pouring inside. And now the garage door motor is not working. The results of this leak will not be short-lived.

Arbitration

We have been trying to get this builder / developer to arbitration for years. Arbitration is set out in the Building Agreement as the method for settlement of disputes. However, this builder will do almost anything to avoid arbitration and avoid accountability. We cannot let the same builder who created the problems, and who has tried numerous times to unsuccessfully fix the problems, continue to mess around in the house. We need the arbitration process to allow us to appoint a suitably qualified builder to repair the house properly, once and for all.

The Leaking Garage

Changing their Notice of Motion

In January 2020 the developer changed their notice of motion from moving a bed to wanting 10 weeks to do remedial work to the house. See our post Vexatious and Frivolous Litigation. This was already almost 3 years after the house should have been complete. They gave no reason for why 10 weeks, nor would they tell us what they intended to fix.

What we are seeing this winter is after the builder spent 4 weeks in the house in July 2020. And the 4 weeks was after we gave them 10 weeks to do remedial work in February 2020! Unfortunately our national lockdown came 7 weeks into the 10 weeks, so effectively they only had 7 weeks. So what did they fix in that time? Or is a more accurate question “What did they fix properly in that time?” It beggars belief that after years we still cannot live in our house and the house continues to get worse.

Conclusion

We really need the arbitration to continue. See the post Urgent Notice of Motion of 4 December 2020  where the developer managed to halt the arbitration and remove the arbitrator under very questionable circumstances. In 2022 they finally got the arbitrator removed but again they were up to their old tricks. Read our post The Whole Truth to show how they withheld information from the court during the hearing.

This builder cannot be allowed to “fix” anything more in this sorry soggy home.

And for a final bit of music, listen to B.J Thomas Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.